-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- They may be famous , but even the world 's biggest names go weak at the knees for their favorite football team . Football Fanzone talks to Alastair Campbell -- former spin doctor of ex-British prime minister Tony Blair -- about his ` manic ' love for English Premier League new boys Burnley .

Where does your love of Burnley come from ?

I was born in Keighley in Yorkshire and Burnley were the big team in that region at the time and they were the ones I fell for . My first game was in 1961 when Burnley were reigning league champions . I started going regularly when I was about five or six .

How did you keep up to speed with all things Burnley when you were in office at No. 10 ?

I still managed to get to a lot of games during that period . Saturday at three pm was the one time when the Downing Street switchboard knew there was no point bothering me . Tony -LSB- Blair -RSB- and Gordon -LSB- Brown -RSB- both follow football pretty closely so I think they understood it . I think Tony maybe sometimes thought it was a little over the top .

Were there any occasions when Burnley came ahead of any high-level meetings ?

When we played Scunthorpe -- the game we won to get promoted to the First Division under Stan Ternant in 2000 -- up until then I 'd been in Northern Ireland . Bertie Ahern -LSB- Taoiseach of Ireland at the time -RSB- was a big Manchester United fan and he had tickets for a game the next day . I said to him : `` Bertie , I 've got to be at this game , these talks can not drag on and on . '' As it happened I left early and by the time I 'd landed in Manchester things had wrapped up , so he got to his game as well , but I did sneak off early it has to be said .

What does it mean to you to have Burnley back in the Premier League ?

It 's fantastic . When we were relegated from the top division in 1974 I did n't think we 'd come back . We had to win a game against Leyton Orient in 1987 to stay in the Football League . I honestly think if we 'd lost that we 'd have gone into oblivion so to be back is just incredible . It means a lot to everyone who has followed Burnley through such bad times .

Just how special was that win over Manchester United in Burnley 's first home game of the season ?

Playing Manchester United as our first game back was the best possible start to the season . Its true they had a bit of an off day , but we played well , and we 've played teams who are better on paper but we 've beaten them on merit . Our wage bill is the smallest in the league by a mile , we 've got a small stadium , we 've got the smallest squad and we 're the smallest town that has ever produced a Premier League football club , so with all that it 's quite an uphill battle to stay up but I think we will , and by playing good football .

Who is your favorite player of all time ?

It has to be Leighton James , he coincided with the period when I was really fanatical . He was one of these players that when he got the ball you just leaned forward a bit and you thought something is going to happen here and quite often it did . The other player I 'd pick is Martin Dobson , who is now Head of Youth development at the club . He was such an elegant player .

What is your most memorable moment as a Burnley fan ?

There are loads . Beating Leeds 4-1 away when Don Revie was in charge of them , is right up there . It was proving impossible to beat Leeds and we absolutely hammered them . The Orient game , obviously , was the most emotional for every Burnley fan . Both play-offs at Wembley have been great , too . I 've got loads of bad memories too , but I think it 's the bad memories are what make the good memories even more special .

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Alastair Campbell fell in love with Burnley in 1961 , at the age of four

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Ex-PM Tony Blair thought his love for Burnley was sometimes `` over the top ''

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Local rivals Blackburn Rovers are the club Campbell loves to hate